Memorandum 44
Submission from John A Napier
SUMMARY
The UK Engineering Profession is heading for
a recruitment catastrophe unless radical government backed action
is taken by the profession. It is my firm belief and recommendation
that statutory registration of UK's professional engineers and/or
protection of title "Professional Engineer", as adopted
in several other countries, will not only provide long overdue
protection to the public and the public interest but will also
protect the reputation of the UK engineering profession and motivate
more young persons with the necessary abilities in Science and
Mathematics to enter it and remain in it.
1. Engineering-a vital UK profession in decline
It is of growing concern within the UK engineering
profession that in the last decade the number of registered engineers
has fallen by 21,500 and the median age of UK's registered engineers
has now reached 58 years and is fast approaching the age of normal
retirement. There are insufficient numbers of young engineers
being attracted into the profession to replace the losses resulting
from retirement and the loss of registered engineers to other
sectors. The current decline is acknowledged within and outside
the profession to be a "ticking time bomb", potentially
damaging for the Nation and demanding radical change.
2. Public attitudes and perceptions of Engineers
The 2007 study commissioned by The Royal Academy
of Engineering and the Engineering and Technology Board on Public
Attitudes to and Perceptions of Engineering and Engineers 2007
found among its conclusions:
"Engineering was seen as difficult to
define and vague. The reason for this confusion was partly attributed
to the misuse of the term engineering to describe other trades,
include technicians or to describe repair work."
Many school leavers, often influenced by parents,
choosing a career, perceive the academic and training demands
to become a professional engineer to be too difficult and to require
levels of achievement in mathematics and science that are incommensurate
with a career as they perceive it as a professional engineer.
If in the 21st century the UK's engineering and the engineering
profession continues to be perceived by the public, and particularly
the younger age group, in this confused way, the engineering profession
will continue to decline.
Some countries encourage their professional
engineers to evidence their professional competency and accountability
by granting a pre-nominal title such as "Ing". A pre-nominal
title for UK's professional engineers eg "Eng" will,
in the view of many outside and within the profession, raise the
awareness of what professional engineers do, enhance the public
perception of the profession, particularly amongst the young,
and motivate more of the best young minds to become professional
engineers providing vital innovation and leadership for the engineering
sector.
3. Protecting the public and the public interest
Professional Engineers within the registered
profession are being educated and trained to be engaged in innovative,
safe and environmentally sustainable engineering development and
creative design that will both sustain the Nation and enable the
UK to retain a leadership role in the global engineering sector.
They are educated and trained to undertake engineering, requiring
the application of engineering principles, and where the safeguarding
of life, health, property or the public welfare is concerned.
They are trained to know what is outside their own specialist
fields of engineering expertise and to refer such specialist engineering
work to those professional engineers accredited to deal with these
requirements. These professional competencies demand nothing less
than the high academic standards and professional training laid
down by the Engineering Profession.
Voluntary registration of professional engineers
(as currently applicable in UK) allows engineering work impacting
on public health and safety to be undertaken by persons who are
unaccredited, and at the discretion of those who may have little
or no understanding of engineering risk or of engineering safety
integrity levels.
4. Current voluntary registration
Unlike the other learned bodies regulating solicitors,
medical practitioners, architects, and teachers etc., engineers,
practising in the UK, have not been registered or regulated by
statute, and under the current charter, registration is voluntary.
As a consequence we have today a situation in the UK where the
engineering profession is both regulated and unregulated and this
is perceived by many, not least by the Engineering Council, as
bizarre.
According to ECUK records, the 1970s government
Enquiry and its outcome the Finniston Report (1979), clearly considered
engineering in its entirety and concluded that there was a requirement
for professional engineers to be regulated. The government implemented
this recommendation by setting up an Engineering Council with
powers to set and police standards of competence and conduct.
The intention was that, although as an occupation engineering
was not restricted, as a profession there was a public interest
need for an entry restriction to it.
However, by also allowing professional engineering
practise in the UK to be open to anyone, voluntary registration
has failed to achieve the objective.
5. Evidencing professional competence
Until more recently, Membership of a UK engineering
institution accredited by EC(UK) was evidence in itself of competency
as a professional engineer in a particular field. Since the decision
by some Engineering Institutions to broaden their Membership,
this is no longer the case.
These developments combined with vague and confused
public perception have created an all too widely held impression
amongst the public, and particularly among school leavers, that
a professional engineer in UK is anyone practising in the engineering
sector who might be registered or unregistered, qualified or unqualified,
and whose education and training can be accredited or unaccredited.
6. Successive reviews of the current UK registration
model
Continuing dissatisfaction with the state of
the UK engineering profession has prompted successive reviews
of the system of voluntary registration. These have achieved little.
However other countries have achieved registration backed by legislation
and the question is being increasingly asked-Why is it not happening
in the UK?
There is today a strong body of opinion that
is saying we need to do something radical and we need to do it
without further delay. The 1990 Canada Professional Engineers
Act is an example of just one model that has worked viz:
""practice of professional engineering"
means any act of designing, composing, evaluating, advising, reporting,
directing or supervising wherein the safeguarding of life, health,
property or the public welfare is concerned and that requires
the application of engineering principles, but does not include
practising as a natural scientist"
""professional engineer" means
a person who holds a licence or a temporary licence"
"No person shall engage in the practice
of professional engineering or hold himself, herself or itself
out as engaging in the practice of professional engineering unless
the person is the holder of a licence, a temporary licence, a
provisional licence or a limited licence".
As a similar example in the global developing
world, it is interesting to note that an Engineers Bill has been
drafted by the Engineering Council of India and submitted to the
Government of India for piloting it through the Indian Parliament
giving statutory backing to professional engineers and the engineering
profession in India. Engineers Bill has been drafted by Engineering
Council of India and submitted to the
7. Facilitating European and International
mobility
According to EC(UK), they have battled against
the continental perception that UK engineers are second class
for 40 years. This has prompted some UK engineers to subscribe
to organisations such as FEANI to facilitate their mobility within
Europe as practising professional engineers. An effective UK registration
model, backed by legislation will make provision for international
agreements to facilitate reciprocity of practise between countries.
8. Registration backed by legislation
Registration backed by legislation and/or protecting
the title of professional engineer by statute, along with pre-nominal
title "Eng" will provide clarity in standards of professional
engineering education, training and competency, will increase
individual professional accountability, protect the public and
the public interest, and enhance the public perception (particularly
amongst school leavers and their parents) of the engineering profession.
It will also encourage employers to use registered engineers to
their advantage whereas otherwise they might not.
March 2008
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